


Broken Promises

by westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist



Category: The West Wing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2003-05-01
Updated: 2003-05-01
Packaged: 2019-05-31 06:26:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 878
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15113672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist/pseuds/westwingfanfictioncentral_archivist
Summary: "I promised her so many things..."





	Broken Promises

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

**Broken Promises**  
**by:** Kasey

**Character(s):** Leo, Mallory  
**Category(s):** General  
**Rating:** TEEN  
**Disclaimer:** I don't own 'em, never have, unfortunately never will in all probability.  
**Summary:** "I promised her so many things..."  


When I found out Mal was on the way, I was...beyond ecstatic, y'know that feeling like "Life can't get any better than this?" Jenny and I had just moved into the ol' brownstone, work was going great, and I come to find out I was gonna be a dad - what could top that? 

I called Noah, who I talked to a lot more in those days than I did later on, and he made some joke about how giddy I was (I think he called me a school girl, if I'm not mistaken), but I'd seen him be just as giddy over Joanie and Josh being born, so I determined it was a "Dad Thing", a requisite, and that made me grin even more, look even more foolish. 

Jenny and I went out to dinner to celebrate, and she had milk to drink - already wanting the best for the little one on the way - and I had...a lot of champagne. 

And the next day, I told myself no more - that the...however many bottles it had been, I honestly couldn't remember I was so shitfaced...That it had been in celebration and I was gonna clean up my act. The little one I was about to be a dad to deserved a better family than I'd had. They deserved a dad who wasn't like mine, and I promised myself that I'd rather die than turn into my father. 

Almost ended up dead a couple times, never quite, and that promise obviously went unkept. 'Bout the only thing was that I didn't blow my brains out, leaving Jenny and Mallory to fend for themselves. 

I know sometimes they woulda rather I'd done that...they never said it, but by the looks in their eyes? Especially Mal's - I embarrassed her so many times in front of her friends... 

...But by God, our house was the one to come to if ya wanted to sneak liquor without parents finding out. 'Cause if Jenny was out, I sure as hell wasn't gonna notice the little bit missing - hell, I didn't even know the names of the friends she had over, let alone what they were like and whether or not they were giggly 'cause they were teenage girls or 'cause they'd been sneaking booze. 

Mal never did, though. Not ever. To this day she doesn't drink 'cept for on special occasions and even then it's not much. 

I guess when you've got a gene pool like that, ya don't risk it. An' after some of the stuff she went through when she was a kid...I don't blame her. 

I made her cry more than her fair share growing up. She'd cry when I'd miss her school plays and she'd cry when I'd knock things over and she'd cry when I scared her with my shouting...Y'know, the conception is that most of the damage done by drunks has a lot to do with their fists...Nah. Just 'cause I never laid a fist on either of 'em doesn't mean I didn't do damage. 

But then I got sober and I became incredibly overprotective of her, maybe ta make up for lost time, how the hell should I know? And I promised that I would send to Siberia any man who ever made her cry again. 

Couldn't really send Tim anywhere. He was already where he was going. 

She was so beautiful on her wedding day...like one of the princesses in the stories she'd read when she was little. And Jenny sobbed and I'll admit - I got just the slightest bit misty-eyed with pride at my little girl, all grown up while I was drunk, but...she was so amazing. And I knew she was so nervous and all that 'cause she'd been pacing for the past two weeks straight...and yet her voice never wavered, and his hands never shook, and they looked so perfect together. He was everything she needed - stability, warmth, responsibility...all the things I had never been for her when she was little. 

I promised that any time they needed anything, they could call me and Jenny. 

The night he died, I was in San Francisco. I'd turned off my cell phone so it wouldn't ring in the middle of my lecture, and no one could get a hold of me until 10 Pacific Time, 1 a.m. in Boston, and he'd died at 8 that night. 

In a car crash. A guy had too many drinks after work and went the wrong way on a one-way street around a curve; Tim never woulda seen it coming. 

I don't think Mallory stopped crying at all for three straight days. 

After that, I stopped making promises - I never could keep them. I promised her so many things... 

...And yet the only ones I have yet to break, the only ones I believe I will probably never break, are promises I made when she was very, very young. 

I will always be proud of her. 

And she will always be my little girl. 


End file.
